Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer Expresses Confidence Despite 2024 Second-Half Failure

It's been a mixed bag in year one for the new head honcho...

Feb 15, 2024; Tampa, FL, USA; Boston Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow talks with media at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images / Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

It hasn't been a bad season for the Boston Red Sox, but it could have been so much more.

After a haphazard start, the Red Sox exploded in late June and early July. They were 10 games over .500 at the All-Star break, and held one of the American League's Wild Card spots. Then, everything came tumbling back to earth.

After an abysmal second half, Boston is back to .500 at 75-75, with a 4 1/2-game deficit in the Wild Card hunt. In total, the Red Sox have been exactly .500 on 21 different occasions this season. Numbers don't lie, and Boston has proven to be a perfectly average baseball team in 2024.

Though many picked the Red Sox to finish last, it's hard not to feel some disappointment in the way the season has unfolded. First-year chief baseball officer Craig Breslow bought at the trade deadline, but things have only continued to spiral from that point forward.

On Monday, Boston Globe reporter Alex Speier published an interview with Breslow in which the CBO expressed his confidence in the direction his team is headed.

“The state of the build is strong… The position players that we thought had the potential to impact our major league team this year and in the near future are doing that, or have increased or confirmed our confidence in their ability to do that," Breslow said.

Breslow also gave Red Sox fans hoping the team might spend more money this offseason at least a glimmer of hope.

"When you have homegrown, cost-controlled talent, it enables you to be a little bit more aggressive in looking for elite major league talent.”

With Chris Sale, Kenley Jansen, Nick Pivetta, Chris Martin, and more coming off the payroll, the Red Sox should have around $60 million to spend without going over the luxury tax threshold. Whether they will spend that amount, or even more, remains to be seen.

So sure, the Red Sox have some things going for them. But this is a franchise where making the playoffs is supposed to be the expectation. And Boston is on the brink of missing out for the fifth time in the last six years.

Soon, hope for the future isn't going to cut it anymore. Breslow and the Red Sox need to start delivering results, because a rebuild can only last for so long before a team is officially a bottom-feeder.

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